11.30.07

A wall mentioned in the Bible’s Book of Nehemiah and long sought by archaeologists apparently has been found, an Israeli archaeologist says.
A team of archaeologists discovered the wall in Jerusalem’s ancient City of David during a rescue attempt on a tower that was in danger of collapse, said Eilat Mazar, head of the Institute of Archaeology at the Shalem Center, a Jerusalem-based research and educational institute, and leader of the dig.

Artifacts including pottery shards and arrowheads found under the tower suggested that both the tower and the nearby wall are from the 5th century B.C., the time of Nehemiah, Mazar said this week. Scholars previously thought the wall dated to the Hasmonean period from about 142 B.C. to 37 B.C.

The findings suggest that the structure was actually part of the same city wall the Bible says Nehemiah rebuilt, Mazar said. The Book of Nehemiah gives a detailed description of construction of the walls, destroyed earlier by the Babylonians.

“We were amazed,” she said, noting that the discovery was made at a time when many scholars argued that the wall did not exist.

“This was a great surprise. It was something we didn’t plan,” Mazar said.

The first phase of the dig, completed in 2005, uncovered what Mazar believes to be the remains of King David’s palace, built by King Hiram of Tyre, and also mentioned in the Bible.

Ephraim Stern, professor emeritus of archaeology at Hebrew University and chairman of the state of Israel archaeological council, offered support for Mazar’s claim.

“The material she showed me is from the Persian period,” the period of Nehemiah, he said. “I can sign on the date of the material she found.”

However, another scholar disputed the significance of the discovery.

Israel Finkelstein, professor of archaeology at Tel Aviv University, called the discovery “an interesting find,” but said the pottery and other artifacts do not indicate that the wall was built in the time of Nehemiah. Because the debris was not connected to a floor or other structural part of the wall, the wall could have been built later, Finkelstein said.

A grand jury has being asked to investigate Doctor George Tiller over his alleged involvement in illegal late-term abortions in the state of Kansas. The investigation comes after Attorney General Paul Morrison filed 19 criminal charges against Tiller, claiming that the Kansas doctor violated a state statute banning abortions on babies after 22 weeks gestation.

However, Tiller filed a Writ of Mandamus asking for a special exemption from grand jury investigation. But Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Kay McFarland ruled today that his petition is denied, and that the investigation can move forward. Troy Newman is president of Operation Rescue, one of the leading pro-life organizations in the U.S. He says that today’s ruling is a major victory.

“We believe that this is a great victory. Because it shows that the courts must uphold the standard of law, and the law is on the side of the people,” He says. “The problem has been enforcement in the state of Kansas and the people are now going to hopefully, prayerfully, see indictments and convictions of the nations largest abortionists.”

A Lebanese-American author and activist is criticizing Christian leaders who are seeking to find “common ground” with Muslim imams. She says that six years after 9/11, these leaders “still do not understand the Islamic faith and ideology driving terrorism around the world.”

Last month, 138 Muslim scholars signed a letter addressed to Pope Benedict XVI, and other religious leaders, urging them to find common ground between Islam and Christianity. The letter declared that Islam and Christianity both believe in only one God, and the commandment to love one’s neighbor.

“Our terrorist enemies — who have launched an attack against the West and against the infidels, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, atheists and everything else — those terrorists repeated[ly] quote the Koran and many, many verses of the Koran and the Hadith,” she points out. “…the accompanying books of the Koran [talk] about how Islam looks on unbelievers, or the Kafirs, as those who are condemned to go to hell.”

We need to repent and pray for the forgiveness of our nation’s sins. Specifically, we need to pray for God to have mercy on us all.

In a few days, America will never be the same as I fear that we are about to enter a new realm in our spiritual relationship with our Lord and Creator. I might even go so far as to say that we will have reached the proverbial point of no return.

Our God is a God of grace, mercy, and love. However, He is also a God of holiness, righteousness, and justice. For instance, Nahum warned that while God is one who is righteous and holy He is also one who will not tolerate sin (Nahum 1:2-3):

“A jealous and avenging God is the Lord; The Lord is avenging and wrathful. The Lord takes vengeance on His adversaries, and He reserves wrath for His enemies. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.”

The Bible also says that God will bless those who bless Israel, and He will curse those who curse Israel (Genesis 12:3). The Bible says that he who touches Israel touches “the apple of God’s eye” (Zechariah 2:8).

The upcoming Annapolis conference is akin to our government thinking they can poke God in the eye and blind Him long enough so that they can create a legacy on their own terms and independent of His plan for His chosen people as well as mankind.

They will leave a legacy all right, but will anyone be around to read about it in history books?

Does it bother anyone else to watch a so-called Christian president and his administration blatantly thumb its nose at God? I’m sorry, but any true Christian who has spent time reading his or her own Bible would know that Israel is off limits and that true peace will never be established until Jesus Christ returns again.

To ignore history – – especially recent history – – all for the sake of political expediency is dangerous and arrogant. To continue to push such initiatives is suicidal, borderline psychotic, and it shows a disdain for God and His truths not to mention a complete misunderstanding of Scripture and eschatology.

Well, we lucked out on this one. I just have to wonder; how long will it be before the terrorist do lay their hands on nuclear material? It really is a scary thought.

A gang arrested by Slovakian police was trafficking uranium so enriched that it could have been used by terrorists in a dirty bomb, it emerged today.

Two Hungarians and a Ukrainian man were arrested as they tried to sell the uranium last night. The consignment had been tracked by police after it came to their attention inside the former Soviet Union.

A total of 481.4 grams of uranium was found and investigators believe it contained 98.6 per cent uranium-235. Uranium is considered weapons-grade if it contains at least 85 per cent uranium-235.

“According to preliminary information, the material could have been used to make a so-called dirty bomb,” Michal Kopcik, a senior Slovakian police official told a news conference today.

He added that the material contained uranium-235, the type used in nuclear reactors and in nuclear warheads, as well as the naturally occurring uranium-238. While it could have been used to make a ‘dirty bomb’ it could not have made an atomic weapon.

“The radioactive uranium was even more dangerous because it was in powder form,” Mr Kopcik explained.

Police said three suspects were detained yesterday near the Hungarian border. The men were carrying two containers filled with the radioactive uranium.

One was a 40-year-old Ukrainian man, another a 49-year-old Hungarian man both living in Ukraine. The third man was aged 51 and from Hungary.

Police said they first traced the radioactive material somewhere in the former Soviet Union but did not give further details about its origin.

“Police were watching the sellers as well as the buyers,” Kopcik said, but refused to disclose more information on the buyers. The radioactive material was due to be sold for $3,500 a gramme, he added.

Earlier this week, we told you about a teacher, from the U.K. teaching in Sudan, who is in trouble with the government there because her class named a teddy bear “Muhammad”. The ever “tolerant” Muslims quickly charged her with insulting Islam, a crime in Sudan punishable by up to six months in prison, a fine or flogging of up to 40 lashes.
She has now been convicted of this “crime”.
Do you folks understand at all just how radical Islam really is?

KHARTOUM, Sudan – A Sudanese court convicted a British teacher Thursday of insulting Islam for letting her students name a teddy bear Muhammad and sentenced her to 15 days in prison, avoiding a heavier punishment of 40 lashes. The teacher wept in court, insisting she never meant to offend.

The sentence and quick seven-hour trial were aimed at swiftly resolving the case, which had put Sudan’s government in an embarrassing position — facing the anger of Britain on one side and potential trouble from powerful Islamic hard-liners on the other.

The defense said the case was sparked by a school secretary with a grudge. But it escalated as Muslim clerics sought to drum up public outrage against what it called a Western plot to insult Islam’s Prophet Muhammad and demanding Gibbons be punished.

Officials were trying to tamp down public anger in the face of hard-line calls for protests after Muslim prayers Friday.

The government, which has often touted its Islamic credentials, encouraged past protests over cartoons seen as insulting the prophet published in European papers. But its moves now suggested it feared the case could hurt its reputation in the West.

The teacher, Gillian Gibbons, “was in tears” when she testified in court Thursday, a member of her defense team, Abdel-Khaliq Abdallah, told The Associated Press.

“She said that she never wanted to insult Islam” by allowing the children to name the stuffed toy Muhammad, a common name among Muslim men, the lawyer said, speaking outside the courtroom. Media were barred from the chamber.

Gibbons, 54, was found guilty of “insulting the faith of Muslims” and sentenced to 15 days in jail, followed by deportation, said Ali Mohammed Ajab, a human rights lawyer on the defense team. The charge is a lesser offense in the article of the criminal code under which she was tried, which includes several possible charges.

Prosecutors had pressed for conviction on a heavier charge under the same article — inciting religious hatred, which carries a punishment of up to 40 lashes, six months in prison and a fine.

A judge leaving the courtroom confirmed the verdict to reporters, but refused to give his name.

Britain said it was “extremely disappointed with the sentence.” London had been conducting delicate diplomatic efforts to ensure she received no punishment for what it said was a “misunderstanding.”

Updated for sentence: Gillian was spared the lashes – those Sharia judges are just big softies at heart. But 15 days in prison, and I’m guessing that won’t be a room with cable. Bet she was glad of the deportation order though.

So it’s just the two weeks in the roach pit, then bundled out of the country pursued by a lynch mob to spend the rest of her life wondering if some whackjob is going to catch up with her and give her the Theo van Gogh treatment.

Radical Islam: What’s not to like?

Other than among Islamic hardliners, you would think that the plight of British teacher Gillian Gibbons, who faces jail and 40 lashes in Sudan for allowing her pupils to name a teddy bear Mohammed, would elicit near-universal sympathy.

Not so, judging by the comments of a sizable minority of commenters on the BBC’s website, who appear to think that Mrs Gibbons deserves everything she gets. This is just a selection of their views (brackets are mine):

Update 2 at 11/30/07 7:33 AM CST:
In typical form, the Muslims in Sudan have taken to streets, demanding that the teacher be executed. Ah, those peace loving, ever tolerant Muslims.

KHARTOUM, Sudan — Thousands of Sudanese, many armed with clubs and knives, protested Friday outside the presidential palace in Khartoum, demanding the execution of a British teacher convicted of insulting Islam for allowing her students to name a teddy bear Muhammad.

The protesters streamed out of mosques after Friday sermons, as pick-up trucks with loudspeakers blared messages against Gillian Gibbons, the teacher who was sentenced Thursday to 15 days in prison and deportation.

They massed in central Martyrs Square, outside the palace, where hundreds of riot police were deployed, though they did not attempt to disrupt the rally. “Shame, shame on the U.K.,” protesters chanted, and they called for Gibbons’ execution, saying, “No tolerance: Execution,” and “Kill her, kill her by firing squad.”

The women’s prison where Gibbons is being held is far from the site. Unity High School, which is closer by in central Khartoum, is under heavy security protection.

The protest arose despite vows by Sudanese security officials the day before, during Gibbons’ trial, that threatened demonstrations after Friday prayers would not take place. Some of the protesters carried green banners with the name of the Society for Support of the Prophet Muhammad, a previously unknown group.

Some of the protesters, who an Associated Press reporter at the scene said numbered as many as 10,000, carried clubs, knives and axes — but not automatic weapons, which some have carried at past government-condoned demonstrations, suggesting Friday’s rally was not organized by the government.

During Friday sermons, the Muslim cleric at Khartoum’s main Martyrs Mosque denounced Gibbons, saying she intentionally insulted Islam but he did not call for protests.

“Imprisoning this lady does not satisfy the thirst of Muslims in Sudan. But we welcome imprisonment and expulsion,” the cleric, Abdul-Jalil Nazeer al-Karouri, a well-known hard-liner, told worshippers.

“This is an arrogant woman who came to our country, cashing her salary in dollars, teaching our children hatred of our Prophet Muhammad,” he said.

Hard-line clerics who hold considerable influence with Sudan’s Islamic government, have sought to whip up public anger over the Gibbons’ case, calling her actions part of a Western plot to damage Islam.

The conviction of Gibbons was seen as an attempt by the government to appease hard-liners, while trying to avert British anger by giving a relatively light sentence. Gibbons could have received up to 40 lashes, six months in prison and a fine if convicted on the heavier charge of inciting religious hatred.

11.29.07

So many things wrong with this story I cannot even begin to list them all.

Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air have announced a new program that will charge heterosexuals 10 percent extra for their air travel to specific locations during the Christmas season.

The company actually offers the 10 percent as a discount but only if the purchaser obtains the ticket through a “gay” page of the company’s website, a location not typically patronized by families seeking travel arrangements, according to an Idaho activist who was distressed by the offering.

Bryan Fischer, of the Idaho Values Alliance, told WND the company boasts of its “nondiscrimination” policies, but, “here they are blatantly discriminating against heterosexuals in their pricing structure.”

Word of the discount came through an airline employee, who needed to remain anonymous because of concerns over retaliation. The employee reported the company had sent e-mails out announcing the “very soft launch” of the new promotion.

“They are giving preferences to male passengers who want to wear dresses on the planes, and giving them preference over married couples,” Fischer said, noting families typically buy more tickets than individuals or pairs traveling together.

This year, summer eerily, langorously, lingered on. We enjoyed balmy days in New York City clear through November. Even now, the trees outside my window remain in full, green leaf. But winter is also here and the days are becoming bitterly cold and windy.

This is the first time in seven years that I have remained silent about so-called “peace” initiatives in the Middle East. What can I possibly add to what has already been said about the meeting in Annapolis? Or, for that matter, about the witch-hunt against AIPAC and the continued, ghastly imprisonment of Jonathan Pollard?

What more can I say about Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood? Or about Jew-hatred, Israel-bashing, anti-Semitism, the United Nations, or the Islamification of America which is now fully underway? Why should I write yet another piece about the French Intifada which seems to have turned into an annual uprising? Must I really keep repeating myself about how western intellectuals have betrayed the Jews, the truth, and democracy by their glamorization of terrorists, tyrants, and totalitarianism? What more can I say about Islamic Gender Apartheid? The reality outpaces my human indignation and nothing that anyone writes seems to stop it—at least, not immediately.

Well, I may not have to keep repeating myself. Others have gradually taken up many of these cries. Luckily, some people do not mind repeating themselves even when it seems to make little difference—or until it makes all the difference.

But also, the information is in. Everyone’s mind is made up. No one will budge. The polarization in America is written in stone. People either read The Weekly Standard and the Wall Street Journal—or the Nation and the New York Times. Few read all four publications. What’s worse: Since writers can only publish regularly if they, too, have implacably “chosen sides,” writers self-censor in order to remain published. We are all the poorer for it.

Even when the New York Times publishes articles which document that the “surge” seems to have worked in Iraq, that Iraqis are actually returning home, they do not connect the dots. They do not say that their earlier “yellow journalism” denunciations of the war may have been at least slightly wrong. And, the conservative media has a hard time acknowledging that many of its current, burning issues have been pioneered by—you guessed it! Second Wave feminists. Here, I am thinking about the following issues: trafficking and female sexual slavery, the sexual abuse of children, including incest, the necessity for a “law and order” approach to rape and domestic violence, but there are many more such issues.

Thus, I am grateful to the internet and to all the websites and blogs that speak in a million voices and that fly right under the polarizing radar.

Perhaps I should have titled this piece “Ode to Cyberspace.” Perhaps that’s a future blog. But, I am also weary, the year is ending, it is cold, and all the things that matter to me and to the well-being of so many seem to be frozen stuck.

———————————————-

Dr. Phyllis Chesler is the well known author of classic works, including the bestseller Women and Madness (1972) and The New Anti-Semitism (2003). She has just published The Death of Feminism: What’s Next in the Struggle for Women’s Freedom (Palgrave Macmillan), as well as an updated and revised edition of Women and Madness. She is an Emerita Professor of psychology and women’s studies, the co-founder of the Association for Women in Psychology (1969) and the National Women’s Health Network (1974). She is currently on the Board of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East and lives in New York City. Her website is www.phyllis-chesler.com.
We are delighted to have Dr. Chesler as a contributor to the Jesus is Lord, A Worshipping Christian’s Blog.

Israel’s sovereignty over the Temple Mount is not up for discussion, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Wednesday, a day after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said a Palestinian capital in east Jerusalem was key to an agreement with Israel.

What occurred in Annapolis and Washington over the last two days had no bearing on the situation on the Temple Mount, Olmert said.

Olmert’s comments came at a press briefing with reporters following his final meeting with George W. Bush in the White House, and just hours before returning to Israel.

Olmert’s meeting with Bush, his third in just over 48 hours, was believed to have dealt with the Iranian nuclear situation. The prime minister said that the activities to halt Iran’s nuclear program needed to continue at full force. He would not elaborate beyond that, saying only – when asked about his discussion on Iran with Bush – that he always finds his meeting with the president “captivating.”

More demands from pali terrorist who have yet to keep any of the promises they have made.

Hamas on Thursday called on the UN to rescind the 1947 decision to partition Palestine into two states, one for Jews and one for Arabs.

The group said in a statement, released on the 60th anniversary of the UN vote, that “Palestine is Arab Islamic land, from the river to the sea, including Jerusalem… there is no room in it for the Jews.”

Regarding the partition decision, Hamas said that “correcting mistakes is nothing to be ashamed of, but prolonging it is exploitation.”

Meanwhile, President Shimon Peres told Army Radio that recognition of the 1967 borders began with the Oslo accords.

Take a moment to familiarize yourself with this story. The Muslims never cease to amaze me with just how much they can get themselves worked up over nothing. Of course it always results in death threats and such.

KHARTOUM, Sudan — Sudan charged a British teacher Wednesday with inciting religious hatred — a crime punishable by 40 lashes — after she allowed her students during a class project to name a teddy bear Muhammad, seen as a reference to Islam’s prophet.

The charges come a day after a 7-year-old Sudanese boy said Gilliam Gibbons, 54, asked him what he wanted to call the stuffed animal as part of a school assignment and he said, “Muhammad,” after his name.

The country’s top Muslim clerics pressed the government to ensure the teacher, Gillian Gibbons, is punished, comparing her act to Salman Rushdie’s “blasphemies” against the Prophet Muhammad.

Gibbons was teaching her pupils, who are around 7 years old, about animals and asked one of them to bring in her teddy bear, Boulos said. She asked the students to pick names for it and they proposed Abdullah, Hassan and Muhammad, and in the end the pupils voted to name it Muhammad, he said.

Each child was allowed to take the bear home on weekends and write a diary about what they did with it. The diary entries were collected in a book with the bear’s picture on the cover, labeled, “My Name is Muhammad,” though the bear itself was never labeled with the name, he said.

A former colleague of Gibbons, Jill Langworthy, told The Associated Press the lesson is a common one in Britain. “She’s a wonderful and inspirational teacher, and if she offended or insulted anybody she’d be dreadfully sorry,” Langworthy, who taught with Gibbons in Liverpool, said.

Gibbons was being questioned on suspicion of abuse of religion — a charge that is punishable by up to six months in prison, a fine or flogging of up to 40 lashes under Sudan’s Islamic law-based legal system.

The case recalled the outrage that was sparked in the Islamic world when European newspapers ran cartoons deriding the Prophet Muhammad in recent years, prompting protests in many Muslim countries. The Prophet Muhammad is highly revered by Muslims, and most interpretations of the religion bar even favorable depiction of him, for fear of encouraging idolatry or misrepresenting him.

11.28.07

“As french, i can tell you that our country is very slowwwww in some ways, US got youth camps since years, here maybe in 20 years we will maybe be able to do something, but here too many people won’t give their veto to say yes, ok let’s give a try, people want to try another things that youth camps, if you do that here, you’ll be a racist, if you say that we should put these ppl in psychatric care or in jail, everyone would say that you are and still a racist, whahtever if it’s true or not, these days, you can’t do or say anything against these ppl here, because we are all sitting on a bomb and because you will be considered like a racist, IT’S NOT VIOLENCE BUT AN EXPRESSION OF RAGE !!?? yeah let me laugh, we say that since the 70s and nothing changed, I think it’s time to do something, it’s always because they are poor, easy excuse.. During years, the tag walls, burns cars, garbages, steal all the time, force women to have sex, if you look at at them in the eyes, you’ll get a knife planted in your arm, they are just crazy.. They are considering the police status like their enemies, but really.. Look that great example, 2 boys on a little motorcycle without light and protection were riding very fast in there area, a police car patrol was driving pretty slow, the motorcycle came of front of the police car and killed the 2 boys and the police officers went our their car and call the emergency, but they had to go away from the crash area because a lot of nervous ppl came to fight the police, they will probably killed them if they haven’t leave the place, i’m sure about that, these ppl are savages and they can’t calm themselves down. And look now, everyone is saying that the police car were chasing them and killed them !! this is ridiculus, 5 ppl have seen exactly what happened from different place, and it’s still exactly the same deposition, it was an accident, a stupid and sad accident for sure, but that’s it !! and now it’s not enough, some ppl want the “real” truth and the reponsables, but it’s just crap.. Here we really need a police like in the united states, a strong police, with respect and force. My France, shame on you..

Maxence from france”

I’m glad that he feels our police are strong. I do to, but I agonize over how many times the liberal judges make our police officers’ valiant efforts at prosecuting criminals naught.

VILLIERS-LE-BEL, France – Youths rampaged for a third night in the tough suburbs north of Paris and violence spread to a southern city late Tuesday as police struggled to contain rioters who have burned cars and buildings and — in an ominous turn — shot at officers.

A senior police union official warned that “urban guerrillas” had joined the unrest, saying the violence was worse than during three weeks of rioting that raged around French cities in 2005, when firearms were rarely used.

Bands of young people set more cars on fire in and around Villiers-le-Bel, the Paris suburb where the latest trouble first erupted, and 22 youths were taken into custody, the regional government said. In the southern city of Toulouse, 20 cars were set ablaze, and fires at two libraries were quickly brought under control, police said.

Despite the renewed violence, France’s prime minister said the situation was calmer than the two previous nights. About 1,000 officers patrolled trouble spots in and around Villiers-le-Bel on Tuesday, he said.

The government was striving to keep violence from spreading in what was shaping up as a stern test for new President Nicolas Sarkozy. The unrest showed anger still smolders in France’s poor neighborhoods, where many Arabs, blacks and other minorities live largely isolated from the rest of society.

The trigger was the deaths Sunday of two minority teens when their motorscooter collided with a police car in Villiers-le-Bel, a blue-collar town on Paris’ northern edge.

Residents claimed the officers left without helping the teens. Prosecutor Marie-Therese de Givry denied that, saying police stayed on the scene until firefighters arrived.

Rioting and arson quickly erupted after the crash. The violence worsened Monday night as it spread from Villiers-le-Bel to other impoverished suburbs north of the French capital. Rioters burned a library, a nursery school and a car dealership and tried to set some buildings on fire by crashing burning cars into them.

Officials have pledged tough punishments for rioters: Eight people were convicted Tuesday in fast-track trials and sentenced to 3-10 months in prison, the regional government said.

Police reinforcements were moved into trouble spots north of Paris on Tuesday. Helicopters flew overhead, shining powerful spotlights into apartment buildings to keep people from leaving their homes.

“The situation is under control,” said Denis Joubert, director of public safety for the region surrounding Villiers-le-Bel.

As the world focused its attention on yet another round of Middle East peace negotiations, this time orchestrated by the Bush administration and held at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, it was clear that hope does not spring eternal for any kind of meaningful and long lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians in the imminent future.

Despite proclamations from President George W. Bush, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas asserting a commitment to forge ahead with the US sponsored “roadmap to peace” in the region, there remains a multitude of stumbling blocks and endemic policy disagreements between the sides.

Just moments before President Bush delivered his speech to the Mideast peace conference on Tuesday, it appeared any hopes of getting a written agreement signed by Israeli and Palestinian leaders had slipped away. An Israeli official had then announced that a “joint understanding” between Israel and the Palestinians had been reached, which essentially translated into an agreement to agree — not an actual peace deal. Said US Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice of the peace talks: “This work will be hard, it involves risks and sacrifices for all concerned. To be sure, the issues to be resolved by both parties are very challenging, but difficult to resolve does not mean impossible to resolve.”

Over 40 countries were represented at the peace summit including most of the Arab world with the notable exceptions of Iran and Hamas, the latter being listed by the US State Department as a foreign terrorist organization. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh denounced the summit in a televised address Tuesday. “The Palestinian people will not be bound by anything the Palestinian Authority agrees to in Annapolis,” he said.

Desperate for recognition by the Arab states, Israeli Prime Minister Olmert called on the Arab nations in attendance to also make concessions, namely to end their boycott of Israel. “The time has come to end the boycott and alienation and the obliviousness toward the state of Israel,” he said. An Israeli official, however said, “The Saudis won’t shake our hands; the Syrians won’t say nice things about us, but they’re here.”

President Bush called for an “end to bloodshed, suffering and decades of conflict; to usher in a new era of peace, based on freedom, security, justice, dignity, respect and mutual recognition; to propagate a culture of peace and nonviolence; and to confront terrorism and incitement.” He hailed the peace summit as an “historic opportunity to encourage the expansion of freedom and peace in the Holy Land and called for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, living side by side with Israel. He said his hopes for a negotiated settlement, “will establish Palestine as a Palestinian homeland just as Israel is a homeland for the Jewish people.”

The recognition of Israel as a Jewish state appears to be one of the testier sticking points for the Palestinians. Arabs and Palestinians have opposed calling Israel a Jewish state because, they say, it would preclude many refugees from returning to Israel, and the label fails to account for thousands of Arabs residing there. The potential influx of Palestinian refugees from Jordan represents a demographic time bomb for Israel because as a democracy, this could mean that Palestinians, clearly in the majority can quietly and democratically vote Israel out of existence.

The issue of the status of Jerusalem also poses problems. After Bush’s announcement, Abbas said that he will not back down on his demand that East Jerusalem be named the capital of any future Palestinian state, nor will he relent on his calls for Israel to dismantle its outposts in the West Bank.

“I must defend the right of our people to see a new dawn,” Abbas said, calling also for the release of Palestinian prisoners, the lifting of roadblocks and the removal of what he called the “separation wall” that surrounds the West Bank.

Olmert said that Israel was “prepared to make a painful compromise, rife with risks, in order to realize these aspirations” of peace. He also said he had “hesitations and doubts” about attending Tuesday’s summit, but Israel nonetheless “will be part of an international mechanism” to establish the guidelines and boundaries for a future Palestinian state.

The issue of dividing Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, has drawn harsh criticism from Olmert opponents in Israel as well as an array of Jewish organizations in the United States. According to a report from Israel National News, tens of thousands of people staged a mass demonstration Monday night in Jerusalem’s Paris Square, across from the Prime Minister’s residence, denouncing Olmert’s oblique references to the division of Jerusalem and the relinquishing of Judea and Samaria. Participants in the demonstration sponsored by the Council of Jewish Communities of Judea and Samaria (Yesha), included members of the governing coalition from the Kadima, Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu parties.

Also on Monday night in Washington, Olmert took issue with leaders of US Jewish organizations who voiced their staunch opposition to the dismantling of Jerusalem. Olmert declared at a news conference Monday following his meeting with leaders of U.S. Jewish communities that “the government of Israel has a sovereign right to negotiate anything on behalf of Israel,” making it clear that Jews outside of Israel had no right to participate in decisions about the future of Jerusalem. The prime minister told reporters that the issue had “been determined long ago.” His remarks were seen as a slap to American Jewish leaders who oppose tentative plans by the Olmert administration to put Jerusalem on the negotiating table.

Rabbi Pesach Lerner, Vice President of the National Council of Young Israel, told hundreds of Jews in Chicago Monday night that “Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) is not up for discussion, Yerushalayim is not for sale, Yerushalayim must remain undivided forever.” The Orthodox Union (OU) immediately responded to the prime minister’s remarks with a statement saying it did not intend to dictate policy to Israel, but expressed its “resolute stand” that all Jews in the world have a share in “the holy city of Jerusalem.”

Agudath Israel of America adopted a resolution Sunday at its 85th national convention in Connecticut bluntly stating “Israel should not relinquish parts of Jerusalem to Palestinian sovereignty, and the American government should not pressure the Israeli government into doing so.” Both statements echoed an assertion published on the website of the Coordinating Council on Jerusalem which states unequivocally that “World Jewry opposes Israeli negotiations which would include any discussion of ceding sovereignty over part or all of Jerusalem.” The group soberly notes in its statement that this is “the first time since the establishment of the State of Israel that a significant group of American Jewish organizations have created a broad united front to pursue a policy directly involving Israel that is based on an explicit principle that supercedes deference to the sitting Israeli government.”

Meanwhile in the cities of Ramallah and Hebron, thousands of angry Palestinian protestors clashed with police in what they called a sell-out by a weak and compromised Palestinian leadership. Police shot and killed one protester in Hebron, CNN’s Ben Wedeman reported

The Bush administration expressed its hopes that the peace summit would, “trigger final status talks between Israelis, Palestinians, encourage Israel and the Palestinians to honor “road map” agreements, help to strengthen Palestinian government infrastructure and help to establish a broader Arab-Israeli peace.” President Bush vowed to, “do everything in our power to support their quest for peace.” The skepticism of a real peace coming to fruition was justified as Israeli and Palestinian leaders acknowledged they did not address any of the divisive issues that have killed so many previous attempts to construct peace deals.

Bush announced that Israeli and Palestinian steering committees were scheduled to meet on December 12th to work out the fine points of a final peace agreement and both Olmert and Abbas vowed to seal a deal by the end of 2008, meeting every two weeks to push the talks forward.

During the peace talks in Annapolis, several Jewish organizations protested the event including Americans For a Safe Israel who called Israel’s attempt to make more territorial concessions to the Palestinians “suicidal”. Said one protestor who chose to remain anonymous, “Look what happened after Israel forcibly evacuated 10,000 Jewish residents from Gush Katif in Gaza in 2005 in an attempt to appease the Arabs and make peace. Not only did this gesture not make peace, but they (the Palestinians) now use Gaza as a launching pad for daily Kassam rocket attacks on Israeli cities like Sderot, causing death and many causalities. Every time Israel relinquishes land to the Palestinians, the last thing that Israel gets in return is peace. When will we ever learn that the Palestinians don’t want peace, but rather, their agenda calls for the total eradication of Israel and the murder of as many Jews that they can”.

In Washington, another group of Jewish protestors gathered and referred to the summit in Annapolis as “Munich II”. 22 year old Yisroel Rubin said, “Our leaders in the Israeli government are morally and spiritually bankrupt, vapid and empty leaders who are devoid of a sense of Jewish destiny. For them, the Zionist dream has come to a screeching halt. They have removed G-d and Torah from their lives, immersed themselves in corruption and are now leading us down the path to another Auschwitz.”

When asked what Israel’s alternative was at this juncture to insure the Jewish character of the state of Israel, Rubin responded by saying, “After 1967, Israel should have annexed the liberated territories of Judea and Samaria and arranged for a population transfer of the Arabs who clearly represented a fifth column, a people engaged in seditious activities against Israel. Why would the Arab want to live in a Jewish state? Let him go live as a first class citizen in an Arab state.” “Our greatness and most tragic mistake,” he said, was not “paying heed to the prescient message of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane who predicted everything that is happening now back in 1979. He saw everything so clearly and warned us that if we do not take action, the very existence of Israel could be in jeopardy and that’s exactly what’s happening now. All I can say is that our future, like our past is in the hands of G-d. We must continue to pray for the State of Israel, for the Jewish nation.”

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Fern Sidman holds a B.A, in political science from Brooklyn College. She was the educational coordinator for the Betar Youth Movement in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She was national director of the Jewish Defense League from 1983-1985. She was a researcher for several books written by Rabbi Meir Kahane, ZTK”L. She was the managing editor of the publication entitled, The Voice of Judea, and is a regular contributor to its web site. She is currently a writer and journalist living in New York City. Her articles have appeared in The Jewish Press, The Jewish Advocate, The Jewish Journal of Los Angeles, and numerous Jewish and general web sites including, Front Page Magazine, Daniel Pipes and Michael Freund.
We are delighted to have Ms. Sidman as a regular contributor to the Jesus is Lord, A Worshipping Christian’s Blog.

I have the original MP3 file for Logan’s comment. I am hesitant to post it on the blog or website at this moment, because I don’t want to be shut down because of excessive downloads. Therefore, if you want it, please email me at steve@worshippingchristian.org and I will be happy to send it to you. Please put “Logan Audio” in the subject line.

11.27.07

In the midst of my unshakable preoccupation with Hell, I suddenly found myself flung back into the Garden of Earthly Delights, where for six full hours I experienced holiness right here on earth. Time stood still, time no longer existed: a small, sure sign of eternity.

Ambassadors from many universes all came together to celebrate a peaceable, celestial, wedding. I felt as if we were participating in an episode of Star Wars—except we were not actors and the gathering was both real and yet beyond reality. So many different kinds of people were there. Jews, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, pagans, and atheists, feminists and traditionalists, leftists, and rightists, gay and straight, and people with no overriding view of the events of the day whatsoever.

Very religious Jews rejoiced together with Jews whose practices are different than their own. This is uncommon, miraculous. The fiercest of atheists lovingly participated in the most traditional of religious rituals. People partied together whose ancestors hailed from Yemen, Israel, Italy, Turkey, Afghanistan, Russia, Romania, Poland, France, England, Ireland, Sweden, Belgium, Spain—and that’s just off the top of my head.

If only all humanity could do likewise, what a lovely world it might be. At least there would be more heavenly oases amidst Hell.

Last night, my beloved son Ariel married his beloved soul-mate Shannon, (“Shanie”) a woman whom he has known and treasured for exactly nine years. They alone planned each detail of this celebration. They chose the rabbi, Dr. Judith Hauptman, who just happens to be the first woman professor of Talmud at the Jewish Theological Seminary. (Trust me: This is a Big Deal). They expanded the traditional seven blessings to be recited under the chuppah (or weddding canopy) into nine blessings. Cantor Sam Levine of the East Midwood Jewish Center chanted the blessings in Hebrew which were also said aloud in English by carefully chosen others. Ariel and Shannon chose the kosher caterer, (Fusion), the location, (Bridgewaters at the South Street Seaport with a view of the water and the ever-amazing Brooklyn Bridge), the music, photographer, flowers—and they created the most interesting invitation in the form of a video.

The Ring Ceremony

There he was, the tiny being whom I gave birth to only yesterday, standing tall in a tuxedo, suspenders, and scull-cap, every inch a man, a husband, and a loving son. There she stood, the love of his life, beautiful in a carefully structured “princess style” white strapless dress with an elaborate and graceful mermaid-back. The two of them glowed, they were incandescent, their joy radiated through all who assembled there. We responded, or rather we vibrated Love! Happiness! Pleasure!

The Bride and Groom’s First Dance

Many miracles took place. Family members who had only recently refused to break bread together danced with each other. Nine year old boys with whom Ariel used to play had become grown men who now towered over me. Both Ariel and Shannon became the archetypal Bride and Groom; they were larger or other than merely themselves and as such, managed to magically expand their love for each other to include us all. They were young and yet mature, wise beyond their days.

My ex-husband, Ariel’s father, has not spoken to me for at least fifteen years, maybe longer than that. Thus, as I stood there trying to figure out how I could greet him and his extended Israeli family—suddenly, as if they composed a delegation, they were upon me; all together, they had formally come to wish me Mazal Tov! I kissed each one: him, his wife, their two children, his mother, Ariel’s grandmother, his sister (Ariel’s aunt) and her husband, his wife’s sister and her husband.

Later, I walked Ariel’s eighty-seven year old grandmother, Sarah, (whom I have always adored) from table to table to introduce her to some of my friends. I knew she was related to my Rabbi’s wife, who is also my dear friend Chai Shmidman. They both trace their roots back to the Bal Shem Tov, the founder of Jewish mysticism. I stood and beamed as they worked it all out.

By the end of the evening, I had spoken to my ex-husband four times. Ariel has no memory of our ever having interacted with each other outside of a courtroom. Thus, Ariel smiled and grinned and finally pronounced that this was “crazy,” meaning “far out”, good, unbelievable. At the end, on his own, Ariel’s father came over and formally kissed me goodbye. I returned the kiss.

Together, finally, we were pronouncing that what we two had created with God’s help was really, really good.

It is traditional when Jewish parents marry off their youngest child (in my case, my youngest child is also my oldest child) that they sit in the center of a circle with a garland of flowers on their heads and receive flowers from all their dancing and singing guests. Pearl Berkowsky, Shannon’s sweet, kind, and beautiful mother, arranged this. The ritual is called “The Mazinka”. Therefore, together with Pearl and her husband, Shannon’s father Harvey, I sat in the center of just such a circle, beaming like a five-year old at her birthday party—or so a friend described me. I wore the wreath of baby’s breath until bed-time and was so reluctant to remove it. It was so fragrant, it smelled like eternal springtime and I was reluctant to return to life at a less elevated level.

The Mazinka

There is so much more to tell but I will stop now. I want to congratulate and thank the newlyweds. What a gift they gave to us all. It will sustain me forever.

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Dr. Phyllis Chesler is the well known author of classic works, including the bestseller Women and Madness (1972) and The New Anti-Semitism (2003). She has just published The Death of Feminism: What’s Next in the Struggle for Women’s Freedom (Palgrave Macmillan), as well as an updated and revised edition of Women and Madness. She is an Emerita Professor of psychology and women’s studies, the co-founder of the Association for Women in Psychology (1969) and the National Women’s Health Network (1974). She is currently on the Board of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East and lives in New York City. Her website is www.phyllis-chesler.com.
We are delighted to have Dr. Chesler as a contributor to the Jesus is Lord, A Worshipping Christian’s Blog.

The driver of an Operation Rescue Truth Truck was arrested and jailed just for driving. The Gwinnette County (Georgia) Police Department impounded the truck. He wasn’t speeding. His license was valid. All the lights were in working order. So, why was he stopped, arrested, and thrown in jail? The police did not like the pictures on the sides of the Truth Truck. Granted, the pictures are graphic, but they are actual pictures of aborted babies. They are real pictures and they need to be seen.
Planned Parenthood and liberals have fed the American public a line of bull when it comes to abortion. They say that life does not begin at conception and that these little ones who are killed are not really human. The Truth Truck shows the reality and a government that supports the murder of innocent babies DOES NOT WANT THE PUBLIC TO SEE THE UGLY REALITY OF ABORTION. I thank God for people like this man who are willing to stand against something so vile in the eyes of a holy God.

Bob Roethlisberger was arrested and jailed over Thanksgiving weekend in a northern suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, on the charge of “Disorderly Conduct” for driving Operation Rescue’s Truth Truck bearing signs with photos of aborted babies. The Truth Truck was impounded.

Gwinnett County Police Department officers arrested Roethlisberger Saturday after telling him that signage on the Truth Truck was “vulgar and obscene.” Officers ransacked the back of the Truth Truck without a warrant and ordered Roethlisberger to change or remove the signs. When he refused, he was arrested and incarcerated for three days before being released on $1,000 bond.

The Truth Truck was released from impound late Monday, however the both the signs and the mounting hardware on the truck were damaged when police forcibly ripped the signs off the sides of the truck. Monetary damage to the property is estimated to be in the thousands of dollars.

Ft. Collins is becoming more like the imbecilic borough of Boulder than many would like to admit; where social agendas substitute for common sense.

Last week, Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly righteously ridiculed the recommendations of Ft. Collins’ Holiday Display Task Force on The O’ Reilly Factor. For the uninformed, the Task Force recommended that only “white lights and secular symbols not traditionally associated with any particular holiday” be permitted. It further recommended “removing red ribbons from wreaths and removing stars and ornaments from trees.” Acceptable symbols of winter include “snowflakes, snowmen, snowballs, ice skates, skis, penguins, polar bears, white lights, etc.” (Penguins? This is dangerous territory. What about those of us who were traumatized by Danny DeVito’s performance as Oswald Cobblepot in Batman Returns? Skis? What about the poor who can’t afford to go skiing? How elitist and insensitive!) The Task Force managed to avoid any reference to Santa Claus, AKA St. Nick, but one would assume the jolly old gentleman would be banned due to the association of saints with religion.

While the secular progressives have tried to take Christ out of Christmas, supported and bolstered by the ACLU which is waging its own Jihad against Christianity, the majority of Americans, including those living in Larimer County and Ft. Collins, recognize and value our Christian heritage. Valuing our heritage while being tolerant of other religions!

Let us not forget that the separation of Church and State is a fairly modern creation of the Supreme Court, not the views of our Founding Fathers and certainly not expressly found in our Constitution. Our Founding Fathers fought in part for the right of citizens to freely express their religious beliefs. Express – not suppress. It seems that government at all levels is more interested in suppressing Christian beliefs. The recommendations of the Holiday Display Task Force are clearly designed to suppress the thanksgiving and joyfulness of Christians for the birth of Jesus Christ.

In the interest of political correctness and cultural diversity, the Ft. Collins’ Holiday Display Task Force caved to the left and denied the faith and heritage of the majority. It’s in vogue.

I would love to visit Israel some day. In a Jewish country, I would expect to see symbols such as the Star of David and Menorahs in the public square. In an Islamic country, one would expect to see symbols representing the faith of their nation. Why in America, a country founded on Judaic Christian values, would we exclude symbols of our faith from the public square? Why not display a Nativity scene?

The fact that we are even engaged in a discourse of whether Christmas trees and Christian symbols of faith should be allowed on city property is absurd. When one is sliding down a slippery slope, there comes a time to dig in your heels, grab the nearest branch, and hold on for dear life. Our country, and sadly our own community, has reached that point where people of faith and good conscience can no longer stand silently while a belligerent minority usurps our heritage and dictates how and where we express our religious freedoms. It is time to make a statement–to grab that branch, in this case a pine bough.

Most of the members of the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office are Christians and celebrate Christmas. We pray for the continued safety of our brothers and sisters in blue, and recognize that the laws we are sworn to uphold have their very foundation in the laws laid down by God through Moses. Our criminal codes are based on Judaic Christian doctrine. To deny that by restricting symbols of Christian faith on public property is beyond the pale. In recognition and celebration of Christmas, members of the LCSO will be displaying a Christmas tree – not a holiday tree – on our front lawn at 2501 Midpoint Drive. We will be decorating the tree on December 1 at 10:00 a.m. and invite members of the public who share our faith or object to government intrusion into our religious freedoms to join us.

In order to ensure that no tax dollars are spent on this “unauthorized” display, donations of lights and ornaments will be gratefully accepted. Might I suggest that red ribbons, stars, angels and multi-colored lights would be in order? We will strive for (dare I say) “uniformity,” not diversity, and request the largest and brightest LED lights, size C-9 ¼. ($9.99 at Walgreens with 50% off the second set.). Lights, decorations and donations can be dropped off at our headquarters and left in the lobby or vestibule at any time. (No frightening penguins.) Please attach your name so appropriate thanks and recognition can be given in our Bull Sheet publication. Donations for Santa Cops, to ensure a joyous Christmas for disadvantaged children in our community, will also be accepted. Please join our LCSO family and share our joy on December 1. Refreshments will be provided.

Earlier this month, atheist sued in order to compel Utah to remove cross shaped trooper memorials. I am happy to report that a judge refused to allow the case to continue. Score one for the good guys.

A federal judge has agreed with Utah’s Highway Patrol and Transportation Department, affirming they are doing nothing improper in allowing memorial crosses in honor of fallen troopers to be placed on state highways.

American Atheists had sued after alleging the crosses, placed at the request of fallen trooper’s families, violated the Establishment Clause. (See earlier article) But a federal district court judge in Utah has rejected that claim. Byron Babione, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, is representing the families in the Utah Highway Patrol Association (UHPA) — the civilian support group that donated the crosses.

Babione says the ruling agreed that the UHPA was not a religious organization, and that their purpose was to merely honor the troopers and promote highway safety. The attorney believes American Atheists objected merely because the memorials were in the shape of a cross — and that, he believes, shows a misunderstanding of the Constitution.

“Our Constitution does not require that every symbol — whether it’s used in a religious or non-religious context — be erased and scrubbed out of the consciousness of the nation,” he argues.

With “friends” like the Saudis, who needs enemies?? Since when have terrorist ever kept their promise?? NEVER!!

All it took was a promise not to wage jihad on the Arabian Peninsula for the Saudi royal family to free 1,500 imprisoned Al Qaeda members, declaring they had been “reformed.”

The kingdom’s Interior Ministry released the terrorists last weekend, according to the Saudi newspaper Al Watan as reported by the New York Sun.

In an interview with Al Watan, Muhammad al-Nujaimi, a member of the special committee to reform jihadists, said the Al Qaeda terrorists have pledged to end their campaign to rid the Arabian Peninsula of infidels.

“After several graded sessions with the committee, and having been convinced of their misguided vision, they renounced their erroneous ideologies, including the concept of driving out all infidels from the Arabian Peninsula,” al-Nujaimi said, according to The Sun.